PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been urged to remove all officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for failing to fulfill their mandates.

According to Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the President should also fire officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) directly supervising these agencies.

“The ongoing air transportation or aviation mess is due to the failure of these agencies to faithfully and satisfactorily carry out their mandates. They are guilty of negligence for failing or refusing to sanction Cebu Pacific for its lousy service to the riding public,” he said.

The veteran solon said CAAP has failed to properly maintain the operational and navigational system of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s main gateway.

“Proof of that is the recent glitches that exposed plane passengers to grave danger. This matter involves not only passenger safety but national security as well,” he added.

Rodriguez said the CAAP officials the President should replace are Manuel Antonio Tamayo, director general; Mark Nester Mendoza, corporate secretary; Danjun Lucas, deputy director general for administration; and Edgardo Diaz, deputy director general for operations.

He said CAB officials who should be fired include Carmelo Arcilla, executive director; and Porvenir Porciuncula, deputy executive director.

He added that among CAAP’s mandates are to operate and maintain national airports, air navigation and similar facilities; and to determine, fix and/or prescribe charges and/or rates pertinent to the operation of public air utility facilities and services.

CAB’s principal responsibility is to regulate, promote and develop the economic aspect of civil aviation, he added.

The Mindanao lawmaker pointed out that DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista and his undersecretary for aviation and airports, Roberto Lim, are both former airline and air transportation association executives who served in the industry for many years.

“With their wealth of knowledge and experience, the public expects much from them. They should sort out this mess about delayed flights, cancelled flights, overbooking, and airport glitches. They should not wait for the President to order them to do so,” he said.

Earlier, Rodriguez called on Congress to suspend the legislative franchise of Cebu Pacific as punishment for its “lousy, terrible service.”

In another development, Senator Francis Chiz Escudero is open to passing laws that would institutionalize the air passenger’s bill of rights and impose stiffer penalties on violators amid the rising grievances by travelers against poor airline services.

The senator said it is about time the current Congress should look into legislating the Air Passenger Bill of Rights, a proposal that was backed up by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) at yesterday’s hearing conducted jointly by the Committee on Tourism and the Committee on Public Services chaired by Senators Nancy Binay and Grace Poe, respectively.

“Similar measures had been filed in the previous Congress but nothing happened. It is about time that we in the 19th Congress should look into this seriously and hopefully pass the necessary legislation,” Escudero said as he monitored the proceeding.

In the hearing, CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said the violations and penalties in the 71-year-old Republic Act 776 or the “Civil Aeronautics Act of the Philippines” have not been revised and limits the fine to five thousand pesos for each violation.

On the other hand, the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights was not legislated but contained in the Joint Administrative Order No.1 of the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2012.

Specifically, the Air Passenger Bill of Rights protects air passengers from problems in the airport, such as delayed or canceled flights without appropriate warning, lost luggage, and overbooking of flights, among others. It also covers pre-flight issues, such as misleading fare advertisements.

At the hearing, which tackled complaints lodged by passengers on delayed and canceled flights, overbooking, offloading, offboarding and lost luggage, airline representatives acknowledged the challenges faced by their companies and issued separate public apologies for the inconvenience brought to the affected passengers.

Airline officials also informed the senators that they are undertaking measures and are coordinating with the concerned government to address the situation effectively. Present were officials of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and Air Asia Philippines.

Cebu Pacific chief commercial officer Alexander Lao, whose airline was the subject of most complaints, said the flight delays and cancellations during the past months was caused mainly by, among others, the Supply Chain Issues (global shortage on airline components and spa